Eight Legged Freaks
by Sway2
Summary: A camping trip * A spider * I suck at summaries * Chlex
1. Campfires And Mermaids

Camp Fires and Mermaids  
  
A/N: This was inspired by what happened on a recent camping trip with friends and I wondered what it would be like for these guys. By substituting my spider, for a more meteor oriented one, I found a recipe for a Smallville disaster.  
  
"This was a stupid idea." Chloe mumbled adjusting her backpack on her shoulders.  
  
Pete leaned in, "and who's was it?"  
  
"Shut up." Chloe snapped. She had found out that there were rumours of a mermaid in Lake Milne, miles outside of Smallville. So Chloe suggested that all her friends take a trip out there as a 'time to bond', knowing that if she had told them the real reason there was no way in hell that she would have any company.  
  
So there they were, Chloe, Clark, Lana, Pete, his girl of the week - Linda, and for some reason or another Whitney, Sandra - his rebound girl from Lana, and Lex. How they got invited or even found out was beyond her, but she wasn't complaining about seeing Lex wearing jeans for once in his life. Chloe had just recently cleared the air, and her head, with the 'I have a crush on Clark' crap, so she was looking for something to distract her and for reasons unknown, found it in Lex. She blamed it on the heat - it *was* the middle of summer.  
  
The group had to leave the cars behind a while back because they had to go through thick bush land to get to the lake. Chloe paused briefly while she took off her cardigan, leaving only her tank top and jeans. Lana waited patiently, "Are you okay Chloe?"  
  
'Damn Lana. Always perfect and made for all situations like a Barbie. Look close enough and you'll probably see MADE IN TAIWAN on her ass.' She didn't mind Lana that much any more, she was over the whole competition thing with Clark, but the way Lana made Chloe look awkward when ever in Lana's presence was a little annoying. "Yeah, Lana, I'm fine, just a little hot."  
  
Lana nodded and continued the trek by Chloe's side. "I'm glad you thought of this. We've never been close, I really want that to change."  
  
Chloe smiled, "Same here." She replied honestly. Chloe swore she was gonna be nice for this whole trip, well maybe not to Lex and Whitney but they were beneath human.  
  
"Come on girls. We'd appreciate it if we could get to the camp site before sundown!" Clark called from the front of the pack. Both girls rolled their eyes and increased speed. Lex had taken the chance to play planner and stake out the stops and the timing, it figured, Lex probably planned everything in his life.  
  
An hour later the sun hit the tree line and the group stopped for the night. "One more day of walking and we should be there in 36 hours." Lex announced. Chloe plopped her self on a log near the fire Pete and Whitney had made. A few hours and marshmallows later, seeing that each of the males were occupied with another female, and Chloe was the only one left, Lex made his way over to her log. "May I sit?"  
  
Chloe looked up, "As long as I don't get bitch-slapped by Veronica for it."  
  
Lex smirked. "Victoria, and you won't. She left last week."  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Smallville was too small, apparently." Lex held his hands out to the fire.  
  
"Is that what you're telling the press?"  
  
Lex looked at her, "You don't believe me."  
  
"Not a chance." Chloe laughed.  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I may be new at the game, but I'm a reporter and I know when I'm being lied to."  
  
"But it wasn't a lie."  
  
"But it wasn't the whole truth. My guess? You found out she was scamming you and ditched her." Chloe shrugged. "Or visa versa."  
  
Lex sighed, defeated. "I'll never admit it."  
  
"I know." They both stared at the fire.  
  
"This fire is pointless." Chloe declared.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because we are in the middle of summer and its not even dark. We have the moon."  
  
"It's serving its purpose." Chloe frowned and Lex indicated the couples cuddling in front of the blazing fire. "Its romantic."  
  
"What's so romantic about being overheated?"  
  
Lex laughed. "Don't worry Chloe." The pair resumed looking at the fire for several minutes until Chloe felt something sting her ankle. She looked down but couldn't see anything. She inspected the bite but couldn't see any marks, she shrugged it off thinking she was just imagining it. She didn't the green insect heading towards Lex's and Clark's tent.  
  
"My eyes hurt. I'm going to sleep." Chloe stood and said goodnight to the group and told Lana she'd see her in the tent. When Chloe stumbled inside the tent she didn't realise that there was a glowing green rash climbing up her leg. It continued until it consumed her whole body and soaked into the skin. 


	2. The second bite

Chloe awoke to the sounds of banging on the tent door. "LANA LANG, CHLOE SULLIVAN!! IF YOU DON'T GET OUT OF THIS TENT IN 10 SECONDS I AM COMING IN THERE FOR YOU!!"  
  
"SHUT UP LEX!!" Chloe shouted back. She was sure it was Lex but the baffled answer came back saying:  
  
"It's Whitney!"  
  
Lana looked at her strangely "Chloe they have totally different voices."  
  
"Whatever." The confused girl buried her face in her pillow and willed the world to just shut up for a moment.  
  
"Are you girls okay in there?" came Lex's voice.  
  
Just as Chloe was about to respond, Lana called out, "Yeah Clark, just really tired."  
  
"That wasn't Clark." Chloe told Lana.  
  
"Yes it was, I could see his shadow on the tent. Are you sure you're okay?"  
  
Chloe nodded and shook her head. "Yeah, like you said, I'm tired."  
  
***  
  
Later on in the day Chloe's head was slowly clearing, but for some reason, all her thoughts were still focused on Lex. As the sun reached the upper most point, otherwise known as midday, Chloe was really hot. She had stripped down to a small halter and a little, little skirt. Lex and Lana were walking beside her and were chatting about something to do with the Talon, and Chloe tuned out so she wouldn't mourn her lack of caffeine. Suddenly, her head started spinning, her knee's failed and she collapsed.  
  
Lex caught her just before she hit the ground and lay her down gently. "Chloe can you hear me?"  
  
The small girl looked up at him. "No." she said sarcastically. "I collapsed, I'm not deaf." The group had gathered around them and Lex smirked up at them.  
  
"She's okay." He looked at Chloe "can you walk?"  
  
"Let's see." She replied trying to stand. She fell back down and tried to laugh. "Nope."  
  
Pete, frowned. "We should stop then, we were going to have lunch soon anyway." The party of people sat down and got out their lunch while asking Chloe if she had any idea what was wrong with her, when she had started feeling sick, how long she thought it would last and so on, and just as she was about to scream, Lana put up her hands and said, "Can we calm this down a little?"  
  
Clark lent forward to place his hand on Chloe's arm "I'm sorry Chlo." His hand made contact and he immediately withdrew. His hand was going funny and his headached. His eyes widened, this only happened around meteor rocks! Clark did a quick scan of her jewellery and when he came up empty, he used his X-Ray vision to scan her body. Traces of green decorated her blood stream. Clark backed away, mumbling something about getting her some water.  
  
Chloe rested her head on Lex's chest, he hadn't moved because Chloe hadn't gotten off him. Lex frowned at this, worried even more than before, they were never close enough for this kind of contact.  
  
***  
  
After Chloe felt better everyone packed up and continued their journey. Clark's unease grew as he realised that he couldn't even come within 3 feet of her. Lana stuck by Chloe's side for the whole hike until dinner, in case she fainted again. Lex followed close behind, but he failed to notice the spider crawling out of his backpack and under the collar of his polo shirt. But he did noticed the sting of the insects fangs and they dug into his skin. Lex slapped his hand against his neck and missed the spider which had crawled back into his bag. He continued his walk until a strange tingling sensation tickled his neck and chest. Lex looked under his shirt and saw the green glow spreading over his skin. 'This must have been what happened to Chloe.' Was his last conscious thought.  
  
Lana heard the sound and saw Lex crumpled on the ground. "Oh my God!!" The whole group heard her cry and rushed to help Lex. Clark again felt helpless because he could do nothing.  
  
***  
  
Later that night, Lex emerged from his tent feeling like he had been hit by a truck, and the only thing he saw was Chloe, seven of her. He shook his head to clear it and the picture became normal. After he gave the routine 'I'm fine' to every question he sat next to Chloe, feeling some kind of an attraction. They looked at each other for a moment before leaping into a long and powerful make-out session. The onlookers were stunned. 'What the.'  
  
"Lex? Chloe?" Pete detached himself from Linda and slowly walked over to them.  
  
Lex tore himself away from the kiss and snarled at Pete. But the younger man saw the large green bite on the bald mans neck, and when Lex resumed the kiss and pulled Chloe's leg over his, Pete saw the one on the girls ankle. "Uh, guys, you'd better take a look at this." 


	3. The End

The six teens made a semi circle around the couple and had no idea what to do. "Chloe's the one with all the meteor info." Lana commented wishing the blond wasn't under the insects influences. "What are we gonna do?"  
  
"Maybe if we knew what bite them, we could figure it out." Whitney suggested.  
  
Pete nodded. "Where was Chloe when she got bitten?"  
  
"I don't know. She collapsed today, but she didn't pass out like Lex. He actually slept for 6 hours." Sandra replied.  
  
"Maybe it happened last night, and she slept it off as normal." Clark suggested from the back.  
  
"True." Lana nodded. "That would explain why she was so weird this morning."  
  
"So it must have been at the campfire." Pete concluded.  
  
"But that's more than half a days hike away." Whitney said. "And Lex get bitten on the way here.so he must have been with him.in his bag!"  
  
Clark was stunned. Whitney does have a brain. "Maybe if we kill it, it might break the hold it has over Lex and Chloe." He looked at the pair, still in a heavy lip-lock and knew that there would be hell to pay if they remembered any of it. Clark used his X-Ray vision to scan the tent he shared with Lex for anything green and saw the eight legged freak leaving the tent and heading toward the group. "Look out!"  
  
Everyone turned and saw the spider running their way and scattered. Clark remained behind despite the pain. He stomped his foot on the creature and backed away as quickly as he could tripping over his numb foot and falling on the floor near Chloe's leg. He looked at her ankle and saw the green swell go down slowly. Clark stood up and continued backing away - here it goes.  
  
Chloe opened her eyes to see Lex Luthor staring at her in shock, she looked at her surroundings and saw that she was straddling his lap, his hands on her bare back - he had just untied the back of her halter, and her arms were wrapped around his neck. "What the hell?" she tumbled off his lap onto the floor. Lex stood up and brushed himself off.  
  
"What just happened?"  
  
"I don't know, but you can be damn sure it will never happen again!" Chloe said as she stormed off to her tent tying up her top.  
  
The END 


End file.
